Children at a community health event in Timor Leste, one of the locations where Health Alliance International has maternal-child health programs. Photo credit: Jessica Dyer (MPH '15), George Povey Fellow.

In this video interview Dr. Abraham Flaxman, Associate Professor of Global Health at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, explains the importance of verbal autopsy and how updated software is improving this method.

Research shows deaths due to violence such as homicide and sexual assault are rising much more steeply in the eastern Mediterranean region than elsewhere.

Violent acts including suicide, homicide and sexual assaults are increasing faster in the eastern Mediterranean region than in any other in the world, adding to the suffering of populations experiencing conflict and war.

For Vancouver filmmakers Ronan Reinart and Kate Twa, all medically necessary health care is covered by their government’s single-payer Medical Services Plan, the provincial program that covers health-care benefits for British Columbia residents.

“We pay a small monthly premium — in our case, around $100 for two — which is determined by income, and low-income folks don’t pay any premium,” Reinart said. “Elective and non-necessary procedures we pay for, but there may be tax deductions for many of these.”

In rural Myanmar, the local midwife is at your side at the start and end of your life.

Not only is she responsible for delivering babies and registering them, she is also responsible for registering deaths and cause of death. And it’s all done the old-fashioned way, using scribbled notes that are sent back to the bureaucrats on bicycles or by mail.

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 12 per cent of the world’s adult population is obese and that number has been growing steadily over the last 35 years.

Not a single country has ever successfully reduced its obesity rate, according to the researchers, aside from a handful of places like Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo where years of war have led to famine or widespread malnourishment.

The University of Washington Board of Regents on Thursday approved the location for construction of a new building to house the UW’s Population Health Initiative. The centrally located site will bring together the work of the UW’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Department of Global Health and parts of the School of Public Health while creating easy access for collaborators from other departments across campus and guests from around the world.

(Reuters Health) - - Deaths among children and adolescents became less common between 1990 and 2015, but not all countries benefited equally from the improvements, according to a new analysis.

Countries with low social and economic statuses shoulder a much larger child and adolescent mortality burden compared to countries with better income, education and fertility levels, researchers found.

As 1400 health experts, academics and innovators from around the world gathered at the Qatar National Convention Center to highlight world health issues under the platform of the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), the focus was on working together to improve existing healthcare facilities.

The University of Washington’s Population Health Initiative, which aims to bring together the research and resources of the UW and partners around the Puget Sound and beyond to improve the health and well-being of people around the world, has received a significant vote of support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the university announced Tuesday.